Race or Ethnicity – A College Requirement

The LS&A faculty added the Race or Ethnicity requirement in 1991
after long and thoughtful discussion. The faculty does believe that because
racial and ethnic intolerance has fundamentally affected the development
of contemporary American society and because its effects will continue to
be felt well into the future, all students should take at least one course
that deals on a fairly sophisticated level with topics such as the historical
development of racism, and the social, political, and economic effects of
racism and other types of discrimination.

In an article for the Spring, 1991 edition of LS&Amagazine, LS&A
Dean Goldenberg wrote that the faculty "agreed that racism is an urgent
problem facing the University and society at large and that it is desirable
that courses in the College address questions of race and ethnicity and
teach students to think analytically and critically about such topics....
The aim [of the requirement] is to provide students with relevant information
about an important social issue since the changing world and work-place
the student will enter will require being better able to listen to and understand
a diversity of voices."

Courses approved to meet the Race or Ethnicity requirement will address
issues arising from racial or ethnic intolerance. In approving the requirement,
the faculty of the College made the following statements:

racial and ethnic intolerance and resulting inequality as it occurs
in the United States or elsewhere;

comparisons of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, social
class, or gender.

Required focus.

Every course satisfying the requirement must devote substantial, but
not necessarily exclusive, attention to the required content. Courses may
meet this requirement by various means consistent with disciplines or fields
of study, and faculty members from all departments are urged to think creatively
about how their fields might contribute to the requirement.

Although it is hoped that many of these courses will focus on the United
States, it is not required that they do so. Courses that deal with these
issues in other societies, or that study them comparatively, may also meet
the requirement.

Students who are new to the College of LS&A (that is, first time
enrolled as an LS&A student) in the Fall Term of 1991, and thereafter,
must (in any term before graduation) receive credit for one
of the approved Race or Ethnicity (ROE) courses. Each term's listing will
vary as courses are added or deleted by the College of LS&A Curriculum
Committee. The College offers several courses taught by a number of different
departments each term. Although the list of courses that fulfill this requirement
varies from term to term, all such courses are designed to give students
exposure to questions focusing on the meaning of race and racism, racial
and ethnic intolerance and resulting inequality, and comparisons with other
types of discrimination.

The courses that have been granted blanket approval for meeting the requirement
are:

243/Amer. Cult. 243. Introduction to Study of Latinas in the U.S. (3).
(HU).

Other courses are approved on a term-by-term basis. It is most important
that you are careful to elect the section of the course taught by the faculty
member whose name is listed with the course. Other sections of the course
have not been approved to meet this requirement and may not be substituted.
Courses meeting the ROE requirement may also help meet either distribution
or concentration or composition requirements.

Advanced Placement credit can not be used to meet this requirement.

This list is subject to change by the College of LS&A Curriculum
Committee.

Please direct any questions regarding fulfillment of the LS&A Race
or Ethnicity requirement to your advisor or to LS&A Checkpoint at POINT-10

Spring Term, 1995

Afroamerican and African Studies

303/Soc. 303. Race and Ethnic Relations. (3). (SS).

470/Comm. 470. Cultural Issues in Cinema. (3). (HU).
(Ukadike)

American Culture

342/History 368/Women's Studies 360. (3). (SS). History of the Family
in the U.S.
Section 101 – Searching for Ozzie and Harriet. (Bass-Rivera)
*Retroactive approval granted 10/3/95